Paper Lite is Making Change Happen
April 17, 2024
In the spirit of Earth Day this month, we are celebrating the efforts of our paper lite initiative. Paper lite runs year-round helping hospitals cut down on paper records. It includes structured training along with dedicated team members and champions that walk hospitals through the process of utilizing practice information management software to track records electronically. To date, 150 hospitals have gone paper lite since 2020!
Key benefits of going paper lite with electronic medical records include:
- Increased efficiency
- Time savings
- Cost-effective
- Improved client and staff communication
- Environmentally friendly
- Appealing to prospective employees
The paper lite team led by Jennifer Weitzel, Director of Operations, offers training and support that spans from eight to ten weeks and uses Slack to open up communication and brainstorm solutions on a larger scale. Kellie Wilkinson, Hospital Manager, Pet Hospital of Willoughby said, “I really liked the way the training calls gave you a step-by-step process to follow and allowed you to focus on one step at a time for the transition. The training and calls definitely made the process more manageable and less daunting and overwhelming.”
Change can be extremely difficult, even with an experienced support system behind you. Jodi McDowell, CVT, Hospital Manager, Loyalhanna Veterinary Clinic shared, “I was excited about moving forward with paperless charting. My team was split pretty evenly. Any type of change is scary, but I was proud of how everyone got on board and was willing to give it a chance.”
Each hospital that wants to go paper lite has the chance to tweak the transition to meet their needs. Megan DiPerna, Hospital Manager, St. Francis Animal Hospital, said, “I felt the training and calls hosted by Amy Klotz were very helpful. My training calls started at the end of April/beginning of May and by the end of May, I decided to pull the trigger and get paper lite rolled out in my clinic. Amy was amazing at laying out the groundwork and foundation necessary to get paper lite started. Thankfully, Dr. Addis had experience with creating exam templates and other various things so she took on that task while I worked on training the staff on how to prepare for the change.”
To those about to start the paper lite transition, Mandi Vilares, Hospital Manager, Chesterfield Veterinary Clinic says, “Be positive! The staff will follow your lead. Build a Paperlite Champion Team as suggested. I had 4 individuals who I empowered to help with the decision-making and transition process. They were excited to be the go-to people for our other staff and they were there for our team when I couldn't be in two places at once. They offered invaluable suggestions and even continue to support everyone now that we're 6 months in.”
Carol Reichenbaugh, Hospital Manager, Harts Run Veterinary Hospital also shared, “We are thankful every day that we made the switch. It has allowed the doctors to remote in from home and review records easily. It has also freed up a tremendous amount of time for the reception team that was being spent pulling and prepping charts, filing charts, and looking up entries to see if medications can be refilled. While there were certainly some struggles along the way, I am sorry that we didn't make the switch sooner.”
If you want to learn more about transitioning your hospital to electronic medical records by going paper lite, talk to your Regional Manager about getting in touch with Jennifer Weitzel.
